Percy Jackson and everyone reading TLT
by killerninja123
Summary: After getting hit by a bunch of books on his head, Percy and all of his friends from PJO and HoO read the first book The Lighting Theif. Plz review!
1. Chapter 1

**Killerninja123: Hope you like it!**

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><p>Percy POV<p>

It was a regular day in camp and then a pile of books landed on my head. Okay does Athena really hate my that much for dating her duaghter that she's making me read lituature books?, I thought. I look at the books and it said: _Percy jackson and the Olympains._ And the other said: _Heros of Olympus. _Cool books about me and the others.

Then I ran to the Big House calling, "Hey, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, Clarisse, Connor, Travis, Katie, Rachel, Tyson, Grover, Chris, Jason, Piper, and Leo! Get over here!"

All of my friends came out.

"What Percy?" Annabeth asked

"Look!" I said handing the books to my girlfriend.

Annabeth looked over the books and said: "We need to go to Olympus."

Everyone cheered. I don't blame them we hadn't seen our parent for a while. After thrity minutes later we were at Olympus.

"Hey, dad!" I said

"Daddy!" Tyson said and he ran up to Poseidon and gave him a big hug.

"Anyway," I coninuted. "Someone landed these books on my head and the first five are about me and the others are about after the second Titan War. So can we read it here?"

Poseidon look at Zeus.

"Fine," Zeus said, "Let's begin."

"Wait!" Poseidon said

Then a gold flash apeared. There in front of us was my mom, my stepdad Paul, and the poker staute of Smelly Gabe.

"What's going on here?" My mom asked

"We're reading a book about Percy, Ms. Jackson, Mr. Blofist." Annabeth explained.

"Why not you join us?" Thalia asked

"That'll be nice." my mom said and she sat down next to Paul.

"But why is there a statue of Gabe here?" Hades asked

"Oh, I thought after book one we might want to destoryed the statue." Hermes explained

"Cool idea." everyone said

"Percy you should read first since there about you." Annabeth said

"Good idea." I said and I open the first book. "_Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lighting Thief."_

_"_**Chapter 1: I accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher." **I said

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Wait! Percy you're giving advice?" Annabeth said. "But you're bad at advices."

"That is true." Athena said. "He has his father's stupidity in him."

"Hey!" Poseidon and I shouted

"Continue please!" Thalia shouted

**Close this book right now. Believe what every lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"Well that's impossible you know." Athena said

"I know!" I said

**Being a half - blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"That is true." Annabeth said

Everyone nodded

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

Everyone nodded. We do envy the mortals

****But if you recognize yourself in these pages - if you feel something stirring inside - stop reading this immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.****

"True." Annabeth said

"We know!" all of the demigods shouted

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"You didn't warn us!" Hermes and Apollo said

"Will you two shut up!" Artemis shouted

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"No it's Peter Johnson!" Travis said

"No, Perry Jorganson!" Connor said

"No, Pedro Janson!" Leo said

"Shut up!" Piper yelled and she it Leo and the Stoll brothers on the head.

"Dude not cool!" Leo said

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding school student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

****Am I a troubled kid?****

"Yes." Everyone said even my parents said so too.

I glared at them

**Yeah you could say that.**

"See you even agree!" Apollo

"I know right." Hermes said

Then they gave each other high fives.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth - grade class took a field trip to Manhattan - twenty- eight mental -case kids and two teachers on a yellow bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"That's sounds cool!" Annabeth said

"Yes it is." Athena said

"It sounds like torture." Poseidon said

I laugh.

"What?" Poseidon asked

**I know -it sounds like torture**

Everyone laugh and Poseidon blushed in emabrassement.

"Wow Uncle P you think like Percy!" Apollo said

"Apollo."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. Mr. Brunner ****was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"I think it's Chiron." Thalia said

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"You sleep all in your class excepts Chiron's?" Athena shouted

"I'msosorry, Lady Athena!" I quickly said

Everyone laugh.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"Yeah, right." Nico said

"Prissy's always get into trouble," Clarisse said

**Boy, was I wrong.**

"Yes you were." Artemis said

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

"Why did you want to destoryed a school bus?" Zeus asked

"I said I wasn't aiming at it!" I said

"You must've sense a monster." Annabeth said

"Maybe." I said

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

Everyone laugh.

"Wow, Percy you're so cool!" Apollo said

"Teach us some tricks!" Hermes said

"Thanks." I said

"Percy." my mom warned

"Okay." I said, but I out a thumbs up that I agree.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"But it wasn't." Grover said

"I know." I said

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover**

"She's flirting with Grover?" Travia said. "Why would anyone flirt with Grover?"

"What's wrong with me?" Grover asked

"Nothing you're just wierd." Connor said'

"Hey!" Grover yelled

"That girl is a jerk." Annabeth said

All the girls nodded in aproveal.

**In the back of the head with chuncks of peanut butter- ange - ketchup sandwhich.**

"Oh my gods!" Aphrodite shirek

Then a lot of people made disgusted faces.

**Grover was an easy target.**

"Thanks man." Grover said

"Sorry." I said

**He was scrawny.**

"No I'm not!" Grover yelled

"Yes you are." I said

**He cried when he got frustrated.**

"Okay that part you're right." Grover said

"Ha! See!" I said

**He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

****He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, ****

"It did hurt." Grover pointed out.

****but don't let that fool you.********You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.****

"Idiot satyr." Mr. D said

"Sorry." Grover said

"You would've blown your cover." Annabeth said

Everyone agreed

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair**

"Seriously!" Everyone yelled

"Yes!" I yelled back

**and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me**

"He WHAT?" Poseidon screamed

"Chill dad." I said

**with death by in-school suspension if anything bad**

"Oh." Poseidon said

**, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. **

****"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.****

"Do it!" Leo, Travis, Connor, and Clarisse yelled

"Percy already kill this Nancy?" Tyson asked

"No." I said sadly. "I wish I did."

"Oh." Tyson said

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Yes, beat her up!" Ares shouted

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there**

"You should of." Clarisse said

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx **

Tyson shuddered

"It's alright, Tyson." I said

**on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a** _**stele, **_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"Alecto." Nico said

"Are you sure?" Hades asked

Percy and Grover nodded.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown**

"She does sounds familiar." Hades said

"That's becaues it's Alecto!" Nico shouted

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you **_**shut up**_**?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"Okay, how can you be that stupid?" Athena said

"sorry." I said

**Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. ****"And he **_**did **_**this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,**

"GOD!" Everyone screamed at me.

"Percy, why?" Annabeth asked

"Sorry!" I shouted

"Don't worry, Chiron will correct him." my mom said

**and—"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"See." my mom said

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"Mother always did like him best." Poseidon said

Hera, Hades, Hestia, and Demeter nodded.

Zeus glared at them.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"It was disgusting." Demeter said

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"Hell yeah we did!" Zeus said

**Some snickers from the group.**

****Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"****

"If you're a demigod you jerk!" Annabeth shouted

"Or if you work in a musuem." Piper pointed out.

"That too." Annabeth said

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"BUSTED!" all the guys in the room said

The girls rolled their eyes

I laugh

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Okay I think we're stayrs now." Leo said

"Leo we're just thinking of what Grover's thinking." Jason said putting his hand in his face.

"Oh, sorry."

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

"Is she trying to be actractive?" Aphrodite said. "Becaues it's not working."

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"That is true." Annabeth said. "Chiron has good sence of hearing."

Everyone nodded

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"That's becaues he is a thousand years old." Grover said

"I didn't know then." I said

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever **_**lived, **_**and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

"Cool!" everyone shouted

"I know it was cool." I said

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. **

"Idiot, you should get a B." Athena said

**No—he didn't expect me to be **_**as good; **_**he expected me to be **_**better. **_**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral****.**

"Maybe he'd been in one before." Jason said

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

"Really?" Zeus said sarcasically

"Dad." Thalia and Jason said

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Why have you two been fighting?" Paul asked Zeus and Poseidon

"You'll find out." the brothers said

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that **_**school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"Of course you're not." Athena said

"Will you stop insulting my son?" Poseidon asked

"No."

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"Typical satyr." Mr. D said

"Sorry. I was nervus." Grover said

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me**

"Aww." Aphrodite cooed

"Mom." Piper said

**, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy,**

"You know I won't if you told me that you got attack." my mom said

"I know." I said

**remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. **

"Even though that is true." Annabeth said. "You've been kicked out a lot."

"I know!" I shouted

**I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Mama's boy." Ares said

"What's wrong with that?" Hera asked Ares, with her angry eyes at him

"Nothing mommy!" Ares said quickly

Everyone laugh

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"Disgusting." Piper said

"Jerk." Annabeth said

"Hey, Prissy, if you know where she lives let me beat her up." Clarisse said "I'll show her whose tuffer."

"There, there Clarisse." Chris said patting her on the back.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

Everyone laugh.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"Water powers to the rescue!" Poseidon shouted

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

"Not good." Annabeth said

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

Poseidon smailed proudly "That's my boy."

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

****"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."****

"Never guess your punishment at all!" Hermes shouted

"That's right, Percy." Connor said

Travis nodded

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. **_**I **_**pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"She did." Grover whimpered

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—**_**will**_—**stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "**_**Now**_**."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"You know your death glares aren't scary." Rachael said

"I know." I grumbled. "But i'll work on it."

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"That's becaues she's a Kindly One." Nico said

"Are you sure it is Alecto?" Hades said

"YES!"

"Nico chill." I said

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"That'll be torture." Annabeth said

"I know." I said getting annoyed by saying 'I know' a lot

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

"Yay, Roman!" Jason said

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"That's becaues she was." Nico said

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"Yes action is comin!" Ares shouted

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Of course she was." Nico said

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"Really?" Annabeth, and Athena said

"How much did you make?" Hermes asked

"A lot." I said

"I gave you candy at home and you go buy illiegal stash of sweets to sell?" my mom said

"Sorry." I said.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Idiot." Athena said

"It's a very good book." Annabeth said

All the girls agreed while the guys shuddered

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"Oh, it is Alecto." Hades said

"Told you!" Nico said

"Yes, action has arrived!" Ares shouted

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

"Riptide." everyone said

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Idiot!" Athena shouted. "Never drop you weapon!"

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

Everyone laugh.

"Is she trying to kill a bottle of honey or what?" Leo joked

"She really needs to drop the honey." I said

"She still didn't drop it." Nico said

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hisss!**_

"Awsome!" Apollo sang

"Did bad lady go away?" Tyson asked

"Kind of." I said

"Amazing." Paul said

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"You let the Mist affect you?" Poseidon said

"Sorry, I was still in shock." I said

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" Poseidon said

I laugh

"What is it?"

**I said, "Who?"**

Everyone laugh.

"Wow, Uncle P you really are acting like Percy!" Hermes said

"Shut up!" Poseidon yelled at Hermes

**"Our **_**teacher.**_ **Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

"That must be annoying." Jason said

"It was." I said

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"You satyrs a terrible liars." Mr. D said

"Mark on Grover to give him lying lessons on Friday." Travis said to Connor.

"On it." Connor said writing it down.

"Travis." Katie said

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Yes, ma'am."

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

"Now Chiron can lie." Hermes, Connor, and Travis said

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"They made me feel like I'm stupid." I said

"That's becaues you are." Athena said

"Hey!" I protested.

"Mother will you stop insulting Percy?" Annabeth said

"No." Athena said

"All right who wants to read chapter two?" I asked

"I will" Hades said.

"Oh my gods, Hades wants to read!" Apollo said

"Shut up!" Hades said

* * *

><p><strong>what do you think? <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Killerninja123: hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p>No one POV<p>

**Chapter 2: Three old ladies knit the socks of death**," Hades began

Percy and Grover shuddered

"Is this the ladies in the fruit stand that you didn't tell me, Percy?" Sally asked

"Mom, get over it already!" Percy complianed

"who's the three ladies in the fruit stand?" Paul asked Sally

"You'll find out soon dear." Sally replied

**"I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.**

"Yeah, right." Leo said

**This twenty - four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr - a perky blonde woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip - had been our pre - algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"The Mist." Athena said

"I didn't know back then." Percy said gritting his teeth

"The Mist is very interesting." Paul said

"It is." Annabeth said

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"Maybe becaues you are." Leo said

Everyone laugh

"Percy can be psycho," Annabeth said. "but he has a really big ego."

"No I don't!" Percy shouted

"You have a big ego like your father." Athena said

"Hey!" Poseidon protested

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

"Really?" Thalia asked

"Are you joking?" Nico asked

**Almost.**

"Ooooohhhhh." Everyone said

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

"Of course he can't." Mr. D said

"Seriously we need to put him on everyday lying lessons." Travis said. "Put that down."

"Got it." Connor said

"That's my boys." Hermes said

"Travis!" Katie yelled

She snatched the book and threw it in the fire.

"Awwwww." Trvais groaned

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Make that everyday for the rest of his life." Travis said

Connor nodded and he grab a spare notebook and wrote it down

**Something was going on. Something **_**had **_**happened at the museum.**

"Well you did almost got killed." Nico said

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"Really?" Nico asked

"Well it was the first time that I got attack!" Percy shouted

**The freak weather continued,**

"Zeus, Poseidon." Everyone said

"What!" said the brothers. "We didn't do that unporpose."

"So you two started to wierd weather?" Paul asked

The brothers nodded

**which didn't help my mood.**

"Of course it didn't." Annabeth said

**One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room.**

"Why did you do that dad?" Jason asked

"I can't remember." Zeus said

**A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. **

"You two started a tornado?" Paul asked

"That one was kind of an accident." Zeus said

"'An accident'" Hades said

"It was!" Zeus shouted

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

****I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.****

"How can you be that stupid?" Athena asked

"I was under stress." Percy said

"Owl Head, shut up." Poseidon said

"You shut up, Kelp Brain." Athena said

"Percy, hated school?" Tyson asked

"No, big guy, I was just stress out." Percy explained to his brother

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

"Was the fights worth it?" Chris asked

"It actually was." Percy said

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot.**

"At least you know what it means." Annabeth said

"Uh-huh." Percy said nervusly

**I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"Nevermind." Annabeth said, regretting of what she said

Everyone laugh

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

"I don't really care if you got expelled." Sally said. "It's just hard to find you another school."

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side,**

"Awwww." Aphrodite cooed

"Mom!" Piper shotued. "Will you stop that?"

"Sorry, my sweet."

**even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Then right on cue everyone glared at the Gabe staute.

"Can we beat it up now?" Poseidon and Paul asked

"Later." Zeus said. "After we finish book 1."

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view** **of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend,**

"Thanks, Percy." Grover said

**even if he was a little strange.**

"Hey!" Grover shouted

"I didn't know that you were a satyr yet!" Percy shouted

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

"at least you studied." Annabeth said

"I can see why." Paul said

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Good, you're starting to realized." Poseidon said

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology **_**across my dorm room.**

"YOU WHAT!" Athena and Annabeth screamed at Percy

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Percy shouted

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

"How can you not tell the difference?" Paul asked

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"How is it hard to ask a teacher for help, Percy?" Paul asked

"Sorry, Paul." Percy said

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,**

_**"...**_ **worried about Percy, sir."**

"Cool your eavesdropping!" Hermes said having a high fifve at Apollo

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,**

"Are you sure about that?" Sally said

". . .Yes." Percy said remembering the times that he had eavesdroped

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Point taken." Thalia said

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the **_**school**_**! Now that we know for sure, and **_**they **_**know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

Everyone laugh.

"Percy your never mature." Annabeth laugh

"But Leo is never mature at all." Piper said. "So that what you two have in commom."

"Hey!" Leo and Percy shouted

"We might have to wait another five years." Nico laugh

**But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead line— **_**"**_

"What deadline?" Paul asked

"You'll see." Percy replied

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

"I am not ignorant!" Percy said to the book

"Yes you are." Everyone said

Sir, he _**saw **_**her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

"It didn't convince us." Apollo and Hermes said

Everyone rolled their eyes

"The Mist didn't even convinve me at all." Percy said

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

****The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.****

"NEVER LOOSE YOUR POSSITION OF EAVESDROPPING!" Hermes screamed at Percy

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

"You really gave us an heart attack." Grover said

"Sorry." Percy apologized

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

"Good, never leave any evidence." Hermes said

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"How come that is in school?" Annabeth asked

"Just in case if any dangerous monsters are after Percy." Grover replied

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clop-clop-clop, **_**like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

"I hate exams." Grover said

"I don't" Annabeth said

"Becaues you're the daughter of Athena." Percy said

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

"You know satyr can read emotions." Annabeth said

"I know that now." Percy said

"Interesting." Paul said

"It is." Grover said

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

"Wow, that's long." Nico said

"Too long." Leo said

"I would've die." Jason said

"Us too." Apollo, Hermes, and the Stoll brothers said

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"I'm going to beat her up!" Annabeth said

"Don't worry," Nico said. "When she dies I'll make sure that her soul will go to the Field of Punishment."

"Good, idea." Percy said

"I'll keep that in mind." Hades said writting it down on his notebook

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

****My eyes stung.****

"Whimp." Ares and Clarisse said

Percy glared at them

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

"Is he's trying to make it wrost for you?" Poseidon asked

"Not sure." Percy said

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were **_**rich **_**juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

Then right on cue on '**I** **was a nobody, from a family of nobodies**.' All of the gods use their dreath glares at Percy

"I didn't know you guys existed back then." Percy said

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had,**

**so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.**

"Good thinking, Grover." Sally said

"Thanks Ms. Jackson." Grover siad

**Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"You really really gave me a heart attack and I almost peed my pants." Grover said

"You really scare him good." Nico said

"I did." Percy said

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat.**

Everyone laugh.

Grover pouted.

**"Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

"NEVER CONFESS AT ALL!" Hermes screamed st Percy again

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much **_**did **_**you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"Not much?" Everyone questioned

"You actually heard the whole conversation!" Grover said

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

Everyone nodded and Grover glarded at them

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

"Why did you have that?" Paul asked

"Mr. D gave it to me for half-bloods." Grover said

"But they have dyslexia and ADHD." Paul pointed out.

"You'll understand Mr. D soon enough Paul." Percy said

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800)**_ _**009-0009**_

**"What's Half—"**

"Did you reall have to say that out loud?" Thalia asked

"I was still new to this." Percy replied

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

"Way to explain it goatboy." Thalia said

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended **_**me.**_

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

**The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice**_**. **_**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"There they are." Percy muttered

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

"The Three Fates!" Paul said

Everyone nodded

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

Everyone shivered

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Really?" Sally asked

"I was trying to lighten the mood." Percy replied

"I could do that better than you." Leo said

Everyone agreed and Percy pouted

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

"he's right." Poseidon said

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that **_**snip **_**across four lanes of traffic.**

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

"Everything." Grover said

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"They're worst." Hermes said

"Way way wrost." Annabeth said

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"It was a big deal." Hermes said

"We know," Everyone said

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"You know... it would have been nice if you just answered me," Percy muttered a little annoyed.**

**"Sorry," Grover shrugged.**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"Yeah right." Grover said

"I said I was sorry." Percy said

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

"I really hate that when that happen." Percy said

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

Again everyone shivered.

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

Percy glared at Grover.

"Sorry, I was just worried that's all." Grover said

"well that's the end of the chapter," Hades said. "Who wants to read?"

"I will." Sally said

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: Next chapter coming soon!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Killerninja123: hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p>No one POV<p>

**"Chapter 3 :** **Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants," **Sally read

"Wow, Grover did you blown your cover this time?" Leo asked

"No!" Grover shouted. "You'll see."

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"Percy!" Sally, Paul, and Poseidon shouted at him

"I'm sorry!" Percy said. "It was still confusing!"

"That's not very smart of you." Athena said

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth grade?"**

"are you really trying to scare him?" Piper asked

"No, I was just afriad I'll fail again." Grover anwsered

****Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.****

"You should have leave him out of your sight." Sally said

"Sorry, but if Percy didn't ditch me we would've come to camp safly." Grover said

"Will you get over it already?" Percy shouted

"No."

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

Poseidon and Paul smiled.

"Sally's cool!" Thalia said

"She make great cake." Nico said remembering trying out the blue birthday cake.

"She's awasome!" Annabeth said

"Thank you kids." Sally said smiling

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"'rottenest luck?'" Sally questioned her son

"It's true." Percy said

"Sadly yes." Sally agreed

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked

"You'll see." Percy said

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five,**

"Oh my gods." Artemis said.

Then all of the women goddess glared at Zeus.

"What?" Zeus asked nervusly

"Why did you made that plane crash?" Hera shouted at her husband

"Well. . .you see Poseidon and I were arguing which one was better lighting or water or I got really mad and I threw my lighting bolt at the plane on accident." Zeus explained

Everyone's mouth was open except for Poseidon.

"YOU WHAT?" Everyone shouted

"I'm sorry." Zeus said. "Please don't hurt me."

**and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. **

"Thanks to you she has to live with her uncle that didn't care about her!" Hera shouted

"I said I was sorry!" Zeus said

**She wanted to be a novelist, **

Athena nodded in approval.

"A very good choice." Athena said to Sally

"Thank you." Sally said

"If they accept your books, can you give me one for free?" Athena asked

"Yes of course."

Then Athena turn to Poseidon. "Poseidon how can you get a smart woman like that?"

"I was bless, Sally is beautiful, smart, sweet, kind, and all perfect." Poseidon said. "Plus she likes the oeacen."

**so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. **

"Oh, the poor dear," Hera said

"That uncle of hers!" Artemis shouted.

"All Sally wanted is go to collage to be a writer and he ruin it for her!" Athena shouted

"He should be punish." Demeter suggested

All the goddess nodded.

"But she has to take care of him." Hestia said. "Sally has a good heart."

The goddess agree to that part too.

**After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

"That idiot uncle!" Artemis shouted

"Yo, sis calm down." Apollo said

"Don't call me sis at all or else I out on arrow in your face!" Artemis shouted at her brother

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

"Awwww." Aphrodite cooed

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. **

Sally look at Poseidon. "Did you visit him, when I was at work?"

"Yes," Poseidon answered. "I just wanted to see him. I didn't know that he remembered me visiting him."

"So you did visit me!" Percy shouted

"Of course I did." Poseidon said. "I wanted to see what me son look like."

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because **_**it **_**makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

"Of course it made me sad." Sally said

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. **

"That is true." Sally said. "It was a secret."

**Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"That's not a lie." Sally said.

"That is true, it's tenchally not a lie." Athena agreed

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

Sally nodded.

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him,**

Then when the book mention Gabe everyone glared at the Gabe statue.

"Can we kill him now?" Percy and Poseidon asked

"Not until the book is finished!" Zeus shouted

**then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. **

"He is a jerk." Percy said

"You should diserved a better husband." Hera said

"I do have a better husband." Sally said. "I have Paul."

**When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe. **

"Why did you nickname him 'Smelly Gabe'" Paul asked

"It's in the book." Percy replied

**I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

"Gross!" Racheal said

"Disgusting!" Aphrodite shouted

"Disgusting pig!" Artemis shouted

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

"That pig!" Annabeth shouted

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"WHO ASKED THEIR CHILD FOR CASH!" Hera screamed

"What a disgraceful man." Demeter said

"He doesn't deserved to be a father." Hestia said

**That was it. No **_**Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_

****Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.****

"Ew." said the goddess and the demigod girls

"I know." Percy groaned remembering it

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"HE WHAT!" Poseidon screamed

"Dad he didn't touch me." Percy said

"Good!"

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

"That man doesn't deserved any money." Hera said

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

"At least he has some sences." Hera said

**"Am I **_**right**_**?**_**" **_**Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

"That disgusting pig!" Hera said

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

"Disgusting." everyone said.

"Believe me it was." Percy said

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

****Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds,****

"I can see why." Annabeth said

**or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

****Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"****

Then everyone smiled

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.**

"Awww." Everyone tessed

"Shut up." Percy said

**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.**

"Thank you Percy." Sally said

"Your welcome." Percy said

**I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"awsome!" Apollo said

"I want some candy." Hermes said

"Why not you go steal some?" Travis suggested

"Good idea." Hermes said

Then Hermes was gone. Then a few minutes later Hermes came back with two large bags of candy.

"Sanck time!" He shouted and giving candy to everyone.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

"Why can Mother be like that?" Hades mumbled

"I wish I had a mom like yours Percy." Thalia said

Jason nodded

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

"Awww." Aphrodite cooed

"All boys are like that." Artemis said

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

**I gritted my teeth.**

Everyone in the room clench their fists and started at the Gabe staute.

"Can we beat the staute up now?" Percy, Paul, and Poseidon asked

"After we finished the book!" Zeus shouted. "and that's final!"

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"Or a god!" Apollo sang

"But she has me." Paul said

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.**

**I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

"LIAR!" everyone shouted

"Percy you should've told me earlier." Sally said

"I know." Percy said

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

"No it won't." Sally said

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

Poseidon, Percy, Paul, and Sally smiled

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

"JERK!" everyone shouted at the Gabe staute

"Ruining a mother and son time, that pig!" Hera shouted

**I wanted to punch him, **

"Do it!" Everyone shouted

**but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

"If he was still alive I would turn him to dusk." Poseidon grumble

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

"Of course we were!" Percy shouted

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

"I never knew that a seven layer dip could work as a bribe." Hermes said

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

"WHAT!" Aphrodite screamed. "Why clothes!"

"Mom!" Piper shouted. "Please be quiet!"

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

Percy and Grover laugh. Sally smiled

**"We'll be very careful."**

"Yeah right." Percy said

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

****Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.****

"DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" everyone chanted

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

"Awwww." Everyone whined

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

"I wanted to protect you." Sally said

"I know, mom." Percy said

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. **

"Why can't that pig carried the bags?" Annabeth asked

"Becaues he's fat and lazy." Percy said

**He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

****"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."****

Grover and Percy laugh again

"But you're only twelve back then." Annabeth said

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"I'll send a million bird to poop on his car." Zeus said

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. **

Everyone laugh.

"He does diserved that!" Paul shouted

"You should've done that harder." Poseidon said

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,**

Athena and Annabeth shuddered.

**and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

"How does the water bother you?" Annabeth asked

"I don't know." Percy replied

**I loved the place.**

"You love thta place with very cold water and spiders in the cabinets?" Annabeth questioned

"Of course I do." Percy said

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

"Awwww." Almost everyone said

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

Poseidon smiled

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

"What's with the blue food?" Zeus asked

"I never knew you can make food blue." Athena said

"It's in the book." Percy said

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Told you." Percy said

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—**

"Who wants to be called Ugliano?" Leo said. "Becaues I think Gabe is an Ugliano becaues ugly in his stupid way."

Everyone chuckled. Leo does have a point.

**was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"I think it's the other way around." Annabeth said

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

"I'm still working on writing the books." Sally said. "but it's going great!"

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

"You really like hearing about you father don't you?" Piper asked

"Yeah I do." Percy said

"Yeah, when my dad and I talk to each other I always bring up my mom." Piper said

"Thank you Piper." Aphrodite said

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

"Wow, Uncle P I didn't know that Sally still loves you." Apollo said

Paul glared at Poseidon.

"That was before I met you, Paul." Sally said. "You're really nice, and kind and better than Gabe."

Paul smiled.

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

"I am." Poseidon said

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"I don't care about those things." Poseidon said

"So you don't mind if I live in the streets?" Percy asked

"What? No!" Poseidon shouted. "I want you to try hard in school not failing and living in the streets, Percy!"

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

"That's harsh." Paul said

****I tried to ********square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.****

"I did visit you." Poseidon admitted

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**

**I felt angry at my father. **

Then Poseidon was tense.

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

Then while everyone isn't looking, Poseidon move very slowly behind Zeus.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

"PERCY!" everyone screamed at him

"Why would you say that?" Hera asked

"You should've said that!" Annabeth said

"You idiot!" Artemis shouted

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"Good." all the girls said

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I **_**have **_**to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"Of course your not normal," Thalia said. "Your a demigod."

"I didn't know I was a demigod then." Percy said

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Per****cy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

"Monsters." everyone said

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

Everyone turn to Poseidon who was behind Zeus.

"Why brother cyclops come to Percy's school?" Tyson asked

"I can't remember?" Poseidon replied

Everyone glared at him.

"Okay, okay." Poseidon shouted. "I sent him to make sure that Percy was alright."

****Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.****

"wow, your strong." Ares said

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"Camp Half-Blood." all the demigods said

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

"becaues it's a safe place for demigods." Annabeth sid

"I know that now!" Percy said

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

"'Only a summer camp?'" Annabeth questioned

"Sorry." Percy said

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

****That night I had a vivid dream.****

******It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.******

"Poseidon vs Zeus on the battle field!" Leo said. "Who will win?"

********The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.********

**********I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, **_**No!**_********

"Yes I win!" Zeus shouted

Poseidon pouted

"The winner is Zeus." Leo said and started to mimick a cherring audience

Everyone laugh.

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

"Wow, dad you were that angry?" Percy said

"I was." Poseidon said

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

"You should've told her." Athena said

"I know." Percy said

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

_**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" **_**he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you **_**tell **_**her?"**

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—**

**and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

Oooohhhhh." Leo said knowing why this chapter is called

Everyone rolled their eyes.

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: **_**"Percy. **_**Tell me **_**now**_**!"**

****I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.****

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. **_**Go**_**!**_**"**_

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"So you didn't blown your cover." Leo said

"Of course I didn't" Grover said

"That's the end of the chapter," Sally said. "Who wants to read?"

"I will." Annabeth said

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: chap 4 coming soon!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Killerninja123: hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p>No one POV<p>

**"Chapter 4: **My Mother Teaches me Bullfighting," ****Annabeth read

Percy and Grover shivered

"Cool! I didn't know your mom can fight bulls!" Leo said

"Dude, you got that all wrong." Percy said

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**

"Shag-carpet pants?" Grover questioned

"Sorry, I didn't know that you were a stayr back then." Percy said

**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

"Stalker!" Apollo and Hermes shouted

"Quiet!" Artemis shouted

**"Watching me?"**

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I **_**am **_**your friend."**

**"Urn ... what **_**are **_**you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

"Yeah that doesn't matter." Percy said to Grover

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

"That is an inult!" Grover shouted

"I didn't know then!" Percy said. "You should've told me!"

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty **_**"Blaa-ha-ha!"**_

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a **_**goat **_**from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

"Percy is right you did say that it didn't matter." Jason said

"See at least someone agrees with me." Percy said

_**"Blaa-ha-ha!**_ **There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**

"Really?" Leo asked

"Yes!" Grover shouted. "They hated to be call a donkey."

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

"Uh-huh." Everyone said

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a **_**myth, **_**Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

"At least you did admit Mrs. Dodds is real." Thalia said

**"So you **_**admit **_**there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

**"Of course."**

**"Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

"He means that you are a demigod." Annabeth said

"I know that, now! Percy shoouted

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

"I do not of blood thirsty minions!" Hades said offended

"It is true." Grover said

"No!"

"Yes!

"No!"

"Yes!

"No!"

"Yes!

"No!"

"Yes!

"SHUT UP!" Zeus shouted

**"Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

****My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.****

****Where are we going?" I asked.****

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

"You know they are call the Three Fates right?" Nico asked

"I was still confused back then." Percy said

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

Then all of the demigods and Hermes bowed their heads

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in **_**me.**_**"**

**"I meant **_**you, **_**like 'someone.' Not you, **_**you.**_**"**

"Wow, Grover you are confusing." Leo said

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.**

"Sorry, I ignore your question, dear." Sally apologized

"It's alright, mom." Percy said. "You were just trying to protect me."

**"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where **_**there **_**was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really **_**hadn't **_**been human. She'd meant to kill me**

****Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling **_**boom!, **_**and our car exploded.****

Poseidon fumed. Then he walk over to Zeus.

"Brother what are you- ACCK! AACCKK!"

Poseidon was now chokcing Zeus to death.

"Dad!" Percy, Thalia, and Jason shouted

The three demigods go up to their fathers and tried to get them apart. Percy use his water powers on Poseidon and Thalia and Jason use their lighting powers on Zeus. In a few minutes later Poseidon stop choking Zeus.

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay..."**

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

**Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

****He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!****

Everyone laugh.

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

Everyone laugh hysterically.

"That's all you can say?" Piper asked

"I would of said something better!" Leo said

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

_**"What?"**_

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

"Christmas tree?" Thalia shouted. "I do not look like a Christmas tree!"

"Hey sis calm down." Jason said

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

"You know mortals can't come in the barrier." Annabeth stated

"What about me?" Rachesl asked

"You're okay becaues you are the Oracle."

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

**"No!" I shouted. "You **_**are **_**coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

That typical stayr!" Mr. D shouted

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he **_**couldn't **_**be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns …**

"The bull guy right?" Leo asked

"Leo, it's called the Minotaur." Piper said

**"He doesn't want **_**us**_**," my mother told me. "He wants **_**you. **_**Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat,**

"Part goat!" Grover yelled

"I'm sorry!" Percy shouted

**at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of **_**Muscle Man **_**magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes**

"He's naked?" Leo asked

"That's wierd." Piper siad

"In the myths the Minotaur didn't wore any clothes." Paul said

"That is true." Sally said

**except under wear—**

Then everyone started to laugh.

"I never knew that the Minotaur can wear underwhere." Jason laugh

**I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—**

Everyone laugh again.

"Now why would a Minotaur wear that?" Leo asked.

"I don't know, but it was funny." Percy said

**which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

"Of course he's real." Athena said

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

"Do you really had to say it's name?" Thalia asked

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**

"Wow, you have a very smart Sally." Athena said. "Poseidon I am seriously impressed, all of your other girlfreinds are stupid while Sally is smart."

"I love mythology when I was in high school." Sally said. "So I studied a lot of it."

Athena nodded her head. "Very smart."

**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

**"But he's the Min—"**

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

"Wow, Ms. Jackson you are so smart." Thalia said

"Thank you, dear." Sally said

**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the win dows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

"Seriously this is the first time that Poseidon has a smart girlfriend. Right?" Athena asked the goddess

They all nodded.

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

"Yes!" Poseidon cheered. "The car is destroyed!"

"Take that Gabe!" Paul shouted at the Gabe staute

_**Not a scratch, **_**I remembered Gabe saying.**

"OOPS!" Everyone shouted

Annabeth laugh.

**Oops.**

"Wow, all of you guys think like me." Percy laugh

"Oh, no." Leo said. "Fist Grover and now Percy! Who else Annabeth?"

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

"That is a very good stradigey." Athena commet

**"How do you know all this?"**

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

"It's good to be prepare." Athena nodded

"You weren't selfish, Ms. Jackson." Annabeth said. "You just cared about Percy a lot."

Sally smiled

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

"dude, how much cans do you eat a day?" Leo asked

"Forty?" Grover guessed

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**

**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

"You are so brave, Ms. Jackson."Annabeth said

"Thank you Annabeth." Sally said

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

"Oh, dear." Sally said

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**

Poseidon fumed again. He walk over to Hades.

"Um. . .Poseidon what are you-ACKK! AACCKK!"

Now Poseidon is now choking Hades.

"Dad!" Percy and Nico shouted

"Not again!" Percy cried

They tried to pull them apart. Nico use his skeletons while Percy use water again. Then in a few minutes Poseidon stop choking Hades.

"Brother control your temper!" Zeus said

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

Leo laugh. "Ground beef? Is that you can think of? I have a better insult than that!"

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.**

"You're dead." Ares said hopfully

**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

**But it didn't happen like that.**

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

"Cool I wish I can do that!"

**How did I do that?**

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

"Really, Grover?" Thalia asked. "Is that all you can say. Food?"

"I was knock out okay!" Grover shouted

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light,**

"Yeah, right!" Nico said. "He'll just kill you."

"Thank you, Death Breath." Percy said

**and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—**_**snap!**_

"Cool!" Leo shouted."Can I see the horn?"

"When we get back to camp." Percy said

"At least your smart about that." Athena said

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

"That's even better." Apollo said

"That's my boy." Poseidon said

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

**The monster was gone.**

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**

"That must be one of my daughters." Aphrodite said

"I'm not sure that's one of the Aphrodite kids mom." Piper said

Annabeth raise an eyebrow._you compare me to a princess?_

_At least I thought you were pretty_. Percy mouthed

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

Then Thalia, Nico, and Grover look at Annabeth.

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

"Wait a minute!" Aphrodite said. "I don't have a daughter name Annabeth."

"Told you mom." Piper said

"I have a daughter name Annabeth and she's righ there!" Athena shouted then she faced Percy. "You called my daughter pretty?"

"Yes." Percy squeaked

"Mom, calm down." Annabeth said

Athena growled. "This isn't over yet!"

"That's the endof the chapter," Annabeth said. "Who wants to read?"

"I will," Mr. D said

Everyone's mouth drop.

"Dionysus you want to read?" Apollo gasped

"Oh my gods!" Hermes shouted. "First Hades and now Dionysus!"

"Shut up or I kill you!" Mr. D shouted

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: chap 5 coming soon! I bet you know the next chapter is. I wonder how Mr. D will react when Percy describes him. . .<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Killerninja123: hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p>No one POV<p>

**"Chapter 5: **I Play Pinochle With a Horse," ****Mr. D read

"Is it bad to call Chiron a horse?" Piper asked.

"Yes," Annabeth replied. "Calling him a horse offends him.

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

Almost everyone snickered bu that dream.

"Wow, Percy you have wonderful dreams." Thalia snickered

"Shut it Pinecone Face!" Percy shouted

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

Then there was an out burst of snickers, but Athena was most up though.

"Awwww." Aphrodite cooed

Annabeth and Percy blush.

"Mom, stop your emabrassing them." Piper said

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

"Why would you asked Percy about that?" Thalia asked

"I didn't know that he had the answers." Annabeth replied

**I managed to croak, "What?"**

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

"Wow, so demanding not a simple 'hello' will be nice."Leo said

"Well sorry." Annabeth said

"You could at least said 'hello. How are you feeling?'" Jason stated

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

"Wow, you already miss her." Piper said

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**

"It's more than a dozen, Sherlock!" Hera shouted

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.**

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

"wow, your clumsy." Clarisse commet

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.**

"It was onlyfor a few days, Percy." Grover said

**Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.**

"I never thought that you call me goat boy!" Grover exclaimed. "Thalia made the nickname in the first place!"

"Sorry, I was still in shock." Percy said

"Wow, even though I was a tree the trend still goes on." Thalia smirked

"What's in the shoe box?" Leo asked

"You'll see." Grover replied

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...**

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

"Oh, cool the Minotaur horn!" Leo exclaimed

"Don't think about it Leo." Jason warned

"about what?" Leo asked innoceintly

"Your going to find yourself a Minotaur and fight it so you can get the horn." Piper said

"Darn it." Leo whined

**"The Minotaur," I said.**

"Are you an idiot or what?" Annabeth asked

"You shouldn't said it's name." Thalia said

"But no one didn't told me that, yet." Percy shouted

"I did." Sally said

"Oh, yeah." Percy remember from the last chapter. "Oops."

**"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**

"That is right senor!" Leo answered

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

**He looked down.**

"You know she didn't die right?" Hades asked

"We didn't know back then." Percy replied

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

"Actually you are the best." Percy said

"You found Pan." Annabeth said

"You became part of the council." Thalia said

"And you became lord of the Wild." Nico said

"Also you have a girlfirend that cares about you." Racheal said

Then Grover blush

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

****"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.****

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

"Wow, dad you must be angry." Thalia said

"A litttle too angry." Jason commet

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**

**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?**

"NO!" Everyone screamed

"It was just a thought!" Percy shouted back

**No. That would never happen. **

"That's wise of you." Annabeth said

**I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**

"You know if you tried to join the army they won't let you in becaues you were twevle then." Thalia said

"You know that camp is year-rounded right?" Nico asked

"I didn'tknow back then." Percy said

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- **

"'Poor goat?" Grover questioned

"I didn't know that you were a stayr!" Percy replied

**looked as if he expected to be hit.**

"That is true." Grover said

**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to **_**protect **_**you."**

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.**

"I wonder what liquid cookies taste like." Leo wondered

"Really good." Percy said

**And not just any cookies- **

"you mean their poison?" Leo asked

"No you dummy." Percy shouted

**my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. **

"Awww." Aphrodite cooed

"Well, Percy's favorite food are blue cookies." Sally said

"You do make great cookies Sally." Poseidon said

"Yep, there really good." Paul said

**Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

"What a sweet mother you have." Piper said

"I wish mother was like that to us." Poseidon said

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**

**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

"That's a good sign." Annabeth said

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architectureâ€"an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arenaâ€"except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

"No you weren't hallucinating." Annabeth said. "It real."

"I know that now." Percy said

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**

****The man facing me was small, but porky. ****

Then there was a quiet giggles in the room. . .

****He had a red nose, ********big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? ****

The giggles turn into laughing. . .

****No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.****

Then the room was silent and then in a few seconds the room turn into a hysterical laughing. Mr. D fumed

"'CHERUBS?" Mr. D shouted. "'IN A MIDDLE-AGED IN A TRAILER PARK?'"

"Um. . .Mr. D it was just my- ACCK! AAACCCKKK!" Percy said

Now Mr. D started to stragled Percy.

"Percy!" Shouted Poseidon, Paul, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, Tyson, and Sally

Then in a few minutes later Mr. D stop choking Percy.

**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step father.**

"Of course I can beat your step father." Mr. D said

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, **

"What?" Annabeth asked Grover.

"Keep reading!" Grover shireked

**but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron..."**

"Well that's better." Annabeth said

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

"You were still in shock?" Paul asked

"Hey, it was new to me." Percy replied

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers **_**B**_**.**

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

"wow, Mr. D your in a good modd aren't you?" Travis asked

Then Mr. D glared at him.

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, **_**if **_**there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

"I am not an alcoholic!" Mr. D snapped

"Yes you are." Everyone said

Mr. D pouted

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

****She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."****

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, **

"'California girl?'" Annabeth questioned

**except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

"That is true." Annabeth said. "I would take you down."

**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, **_**You killed a minotaur! **_**or **_**Wow, you're so awesome! **_**or something like that.**

Everyone chuckled.

"Please, Annabeth won't even say that anyway." Thalia said

"She'll say the opposite." Grover said

"That's true, my duaghter won't comlement Sea Spwan's son." Athena said

"How did you know then?" Poseidon asked

"Percy you do have a really giant ego." Nico said

"No I don't." Percy said

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

Then there was a hysterical laughing.

"Oh my gods!" Thalia laugh

"You rock Annabeth!" Nico said

"Told you it was the opposite!" Grover said

"Ha! Take that Kelp Brian!" Athena shouted at Poseidon.

Poseidon pouted and Percy blushed.

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**

"He's right." Athena said. "Names are powerful."

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**

"What happen to the old teacher then?" Annabeth asked Percy

"I don't know," Percy replied. "On vaction or something."

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**

****Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first.****

**We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**

"Grover are you scared of me?" Mr. D asked

"N-N-N-No s-s-s-sir." Grover stuttered

**"You **_**do **_**know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not, **_**sir**_**," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

"HEY!" Mr. D shouted

"Sorry, Mr. D." Percy apologized

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all **_**civilized **_**young men to know the rules."**

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brunner-Chiron why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

"I still want to know." Mr. D muttered

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

"Seriously Grover, how scary I am?" Mr. D asked. "I'm no scary."

"Are you sure about that?" Travis asked

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, **_**I **_**was his star student. He expected **_**me **_**to have the right answer.**

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

"What!" Sally shouted at Mr. D

Then the room got quiet.

"I ment in a good way." Mr. D said quickly

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

"You didn't get to see the orientation film?" Nico asked. "It was so cool!"

"Did everyone saw the orientation film except me?" Percy asked

"Yes." Everyone said

Percy pouted

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive."**

**I stared at the others around the table.**

**I waited for somebody to yell, **_**Not! **_**But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**

****"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"****

**"Eh? Oh, all right."**

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as god."**

"Were you listening, son of Poseidon?" Athena asked. "He said Gods not God."

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital **_**G**_**, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

"Smaller?" Zeus questioned

**"Smaller?"**

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**

"It's funny how you forgot your dad's name." Annabeth said

"I know." Percy said

**And there it was again distant thunder on a cloud less day.**

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody- **

"How did you know my real name?" Percy asked

"I'm a god, I know stuff." Mr. D replied

**"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come **_**so-o-o **_**far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, **

"WHAT!" Mr. D screamed

"It's true!" Percy shouted. "No one in camp likes you except for you kids."

"Impossible all the campers like me. right?" Mr. D asked the rest of the demigods

"Yes we like you Mr. D!" Everyone said nervusly all together

**but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that **_**immortal **_**means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

****I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.****

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that some day people would call **_**you **_**a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**

"Ooooh that's a burn." Connor said

"That's gotta hurt." Travis said

"I think he was trying to get you mad." Annabeth said

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**

"How is it lucky that he looses me?" Sally questioned Mr. D

But Mr. D just kept quiet

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

"You better not fall for that dad." Thalia said

Jason nodded

"He always do that." Annabeth said

"you think I'm going to fall for that, Dionysus?" Zeus asked

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**

"Yeah, Right." Everyone shouted

**More thunder.**

"See I didn't fall for that!" Zeus shouted

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

"So that's how he came to work at camp." Piper said

"I can see why he got punished for it." Leo said'

"HEY!" Mr. D shouted. "She was very pretty okay!"

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**

"Unfair for us." Annabeth mumbled

"You make our live miseriable." Travis muttered

"He's the worst." Connor murmured

"I do not like to punish you, Dionysus!" Zeus shouted. "You really need to get your ass off the thrown!"

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

"I DO NOT!" Mr. D screamed

"Yes you do." All of the gods said

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

"Geez your slow." Thalia said

_**"Di immortales, **_**Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**

"That means Mr. D is your brother." Nico said to Thalia and Jason

"Yes he is." the two Graces said sadly

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

****"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"****

"WHAT!" Aphrodite shouted at Dionysus

"It was just a- AAAACCCKKK! AAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!" Mr. D said

"Mom!" Piper shouted

Piper use her charmspeak to stop her mom. Then a minute later Aphrodite stop choking Dionysus.

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**

"That's what we all thought." Apollo said

Mr. D glared at him

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

"Wow, you actually won." Travis said

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

"I take back what I said." Travis said

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, **_**again, **_**about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. **

"He's right." Mr. D said

**He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

****"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"****

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in **_**America**_**?"**

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

"Okay how dumb are you?" Athena asked

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, **

"Finally he mentions Rome!" Jason said

**and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."**

****"And then they died."****

"You know we don't die." Zeus said

"I know that now," Percy said. "I was still in shock."

****Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. ****

Annabeth smiled

"You do make great architecture." Percy said

"Thanks."

**People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

**It was all too much, especially the fact that **_**I **_**seemed to be included in Chiron's **_**we, **_**as if I were part of some club.**

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**

"Are you trying to sund like in a movie?" Thalia asked

"No." Percy replied. "I was still confuesed.

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

****"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to 'meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be smores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."****

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, **

"Underwear?" Everyone questioned Percy

"I was just me thoughts." Percy said

**but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

"Amazing." Paul asked

"Pony!" Tyson cried

Everyone snickered

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

"That's the end of the chapter," Mr. D said. "Who wants to read?"

"I will." Hermes said

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: It's August 18th! That means it Percy's birthday! Not sure how old he is in real life, but the next chapter coming soon!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Killerninja123: hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p>No one POV<p>

**"Chapter 6: I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom," **Hermes read and then he laugh.

"Wow, Uncle P you son is the lord of the bathrooms." Apollo joked

"Shut up Apollo!" Poseidon shouted

**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**

"I wonder who chiron is going to react to that." Leo said

"I don't think I wanna know." Percy said

**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's **_**him**_**."**

**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**

**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**

Everyone shuddered

"Must be the Oracle." Annabeth guessed

"Or Argus cleaning the attic." Grover said

**"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**

**"Somebody lives there?"**

**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**

"Used to." Rachel pointed out

**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**

**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.**

**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**

**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.**

****I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.****

"Yes, I could." Grover answered to the book

**I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**

"Thank you for careing Percy." Grover gurmbled

"Sorry, man." Percy said

**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."**

"You are a good protectoe," Percy said. "You found me, Thalia, and Nico."

"Your forgetting someone!" Nico shouted

"Oh, yeah, sorry, and Bianca." Percy said

****Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable.****

"They are resonable." Grover stated

**To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**

**"But he did that!"**

**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**

"I can't believe I'm hearing this." Grover mumbled

"But grover you did became part of the council and the lord of the wild remember?" Precy mentioned

"Oh, yeah I did!" Grover said happily

**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**

**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that **_**was **_**Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."**

**"How old is he?"**

**"Oh, twenty-eight."**

"Dude your twenty sight?" Leo asked

"I was twenty eight back then, now I'm thrity two." Grover replied

"Man your so old." Leo muttered

"What was that?" Grpver snapped

"Nothing!" Leo said quickly

**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**

**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."**

"You need to skip some grades you know?" Leo said

"I don't go to school now!" Grover shouted

**"That's horrible."**

**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."**

****"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"****

"Yes." Grover grumbled

**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**

****But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word **_**death. **_**The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.****

**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**

**"Yes, child?"**

**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**

"It's real you know." Nico said

"I know that now, Corpes Breath jr." Percy said

"'Corpes Breath jr?'" Nico questioned

"You are Hades's only son." Percy replied

"Make sence."

**Chiron's expression darkened.**

**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words care fully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**

**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**

****"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."****

**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**

"What is that suppsoed to mean?" Piper asked

"I thought some Native Americans been here before." Percy replied

"Half-blood Native Americans been here not the mortal ones." Piper said

**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**

**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**

**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

**"My own—?"**

**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**

**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),**

"Really, Percy?" Annabeth questioned him. "Chiron doesn't like the becaues it's fit for horses and Chrion is half horse and half human."

**the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**

**"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.**

**"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."**

"Man now I'm hungry." Leo said

"Don't worry I'll hendle the food." Hestia said

Then in a few seconds there was food everywhere. Then everyone dig in.

**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.**

"it never rains." Annabeth said

"thank you Wise Girl." Percy said

**"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.**

**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. **

"Hepheastsus." Leo said

**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. **

"Demeter." Katie said

**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. **

"Alright my cabin!" Apollo cheered

**They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).**

**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**

"Hey I'm in the book!" Hestia said. "Beat that! I'm the first goddess in the book! Ha!"

Then all of the gods mumbled

**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them.**

"Zeus." Thalia said

"Jupitor." Jason said

**Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**

"Hera." Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth grumbled

"Juno." Jason said

**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**

**"Correct," Chiron said.**

**"Their cabins look empty."**

**"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**

**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.**

"I wouldn't say mascots." Athena said. "It's an honorary."

**Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**

**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three. **It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. ****

"Poseidon." Percy said

**I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**

**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.**

**Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.**

"Ares." Clarisse said

**The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**

"Clarisse." Everyone said

"Me." Clarisse siad

**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**

**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**

"There more like part animals like Mr. D." Percy said

"What was that?" Mr. D questioned

"Nothing." Percy said quickly

**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."**

**He smiled down at me. **_**"The **_**Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**

**"But, shouldn't you be dead?"**

"shouldn't he?" Racheal asked. "I read in the books that they have his conselation in the sky."

"You'll see, Chiron will explained." Annabeth repleid

**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about **_**should **_**be. The truth is, I **_**can't **_**be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**

**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**

**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"**

**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**

**"Why depressing?"**

**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**

**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**

**The blond girl **

"You know that blond girl does have a name." Annabeth pointed out

"Sorry." Percy said

**I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**

**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**

"Actually I was thinking of something else than you drooling." Annabeth said

"What were you thinking then." Percy asked

"None of you beeswax!" Annabeth shouted

****I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.****

******There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.******

"That's becaues it _is _an architecture book, Percy," Annabeth said

**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on **_**old. **_**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?**

"A caduceus, Percy." Hermes said

**A caduceus.**

"you already said that dad." Travis said

"It's in the book Travis." Herems said

**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**

**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**

**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**

**He galloped away toward the archery range.**

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**

**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.**

Everyone laugh.

"Shut up!" Percy groaned

**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**

**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."**

**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**

"I asked that question." Connor said

"No I did!" Travis said

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**

**Everybody groaned.**

"Seriously what's the big deal about it?" Hermes asked

**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.**

**"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."**

**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**

Then everyone bowed their heads for the memory of Luke.

**"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing.**

"Someone has a crush!" Aphrodite sang

"Mom." Piper groaned. "Will you stop that?"

**She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now."**

**"For now?" I asked.**

**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**

**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**

Aww. thank you cuz." Herems said

"Yeah." Percy sid uneasy

**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**

"Don't blame you." Travis and Connor said

**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**

**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

**"How long will that take?"**

**The campers all laughed.**

"Seriously whats the big deal?" Hermes asked. "You'll stay in cabin eleven as long as when you get claimed."

**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**

**"I've already seen it."**

**"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**

**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**

**"What?"**

**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**

"You mean he's not your boyfriend?" Leo asked

"No, that's not what I mean." Annabeth said

**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**

**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"**

**"To get killed?"**

**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**

**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was **_**the **_**Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."**

**"Yes."**

**"Then there's only one."**

**"Yes."**

**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."**

"At least you know about that." Athena said

**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**

**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**

**"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche types. Eventually, they re-form."**

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"**

**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**

"She still doesn't like you." Nico said to Percy

"That I know." Percy said

**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**

**"You talk in your sleep."**

"I really should stop talking in my sleep." Percy said

"Yeah, you should," Everyone said

**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**

"Yes, they are." Hades and Nico said

**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.**

**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**

**"Look, is there anything we **_**can **_**say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."**

**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**

**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said.**

**"She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**

"I'm still alive." Sally said

"I thought you were dead back then." Percy said

**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**

**"He's dead. I never knew him."**

"I'm not dead." Poseidon said. "I'm alive and immortal."

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids.**

"A lot of times." Annabeth said

**"Your father's not dead, Percy."**

**"How can you say that? You know him?"**

**"No, of course not."**

**"Then how can you say—"**

**"Because I know **_**you.**_ **You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**

**"You don't know anything about me."**

**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."**

**"How—"**

**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**

"Aww, their fighting like a couple." Aphrodite cooed

"That's becaues we are a couple." Percy reminded

**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek.**

**And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**

**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**

**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."**

**"Ambrosia and nectar."**

**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**

**A half-blood.**

**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**

"DUN DUN DUN!" the Stoll brother shouted to dramactic effect. "Clarisse has arrived!"

"This is going to be very interesting." Poseidon said

**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**

**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**

**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**

_**''Erre es korakas!"**_ **Annabeth said, which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."**

"That's my Annabeth." Athena said

**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**

**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**

**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**

**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**

Everyone chuckled while Clarisse and Ares fumed at Percy.

**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**

**"Percy."**

**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**

**"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.**

**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**

"So that's how you got that nickname." Nico said

"Yep." Annabeth said

**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it,**

**and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**

**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**

**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron. She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I **_**could **_**think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**

**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**

**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**

**Her friends snickered.**

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**

"What were you doing with your fingers?" Thalia asked

"Wondering how he's trying not to have his head in the toliet." Annabeth replied

**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets. I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**

**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**

Clarisse glared at Percy who took no notice.

****I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt.****

Everyone laugh except for Clarisse and Ares

"That right! Take that Ares!" Poseidon shouted

**The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**

**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.**

**But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**

**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**

**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth had been spared.**

Athena fumed.

"Don't worry mom is was the shower water." Annabeth said

Then Athena calm down

**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**

"Interesting." Paul said

"Since Percy is the son of Poseidon he can't get wet." Sally said

**I stood up, my legs shaky.**

**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."**

**"I don't know."**

"You should've known by now that I'm your father." Poseidon said

"I was still confuesed." Percy said

**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**

****I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."****

Everyone laugh and Clarisse pouted.

**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**

**"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**

**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**

"I see there's a plan that involves Percy." Thalia said

"Yes there was." Annabeth said. "And it work perfectly."

"Yes it did." Percy grumbled

"That's the end of the chapter," Hermes said. "Who wants to read?"

"I will." Athena said

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: Chap 7 coming soon!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Killerninja123: hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p>No one POV<p>

**"Chapter 7: **My Dinner Goes up in Smoke," ****Athena read

**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.**

"actually they were staring at you." Annabeth commet

**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man),**

"GOAT-MAN!" Grover screamed

"Look Grover I didn't know it was-AACCCK! AAACCCK!" Percy said

Then he started to strangle Percy.

"Percy!" Shouted Poseidon, Sally, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, and Tyson.

Then a few seconds later Grover strangling Percy.

"you should know it was Pan." Grover grumbled

"I was new at camp, i didn't know!" Percy protested.

**and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.**

**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.**

**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."**

**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**

**"Whatever."**

**"It wasn't my fault."**

"Yes it was." Athena snapped

"She's right, Percy." Sally said

"You should control your powers." Hera said

"I didn't know Poseidon was my dad back then!" Percy shouted

**She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it **_**was **_**my fault. **

"At least you admit that." Thalia said

**I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.**

"You should find out then that I'm your father, Percy."Poseidon said. "It's so obvoius."

**"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.**

**"Who?"**

**"Not who. What.**

"I'm a what?" Racheal asked

"No back then we have a mummy as our Oracle." Annabeth explaiend

**The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."**

**I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.**I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below.****

"Naiads." Annabeth said in a rude tone in her voice

**They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.**

**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**

**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."**

"Someone's jealous!" Aphrodite sang

"Mom." Piper said putting her palm on her face.

**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."**

**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You **_**are **_**home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."**

**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**

"No you dimwit!" Athena shouted. "Did you listen to her?"

**"I mean **_**not human. **_**Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."**

**"Half-human and half-what?"**

Everyone rolled their eyes,

"Percy you're seriously slow." Thalia said

**"I think you know."**

**I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.**

**"God," I said. "Half-god."**

"Dig dig dig!" Leo shouted. "We have a winner!"

Everyone chuckled

**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."**

**"That's ... crazy."**

**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"**

**"But those are just—" I almost said **_**myths **_**again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, **_**I **_**might be considered a myth.**

**"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"**

"Demigods!" Everyone shouted at Percy

"I know I know!" Percy shouted back. "I was still confuesed back then!"

**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."**

**"Then who's your dad?"**

**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.**

"Oh really?" Annabeth asked sarcastically

"Hey, but you and your dad did got along." Percy said

"Yeah your right." Annabeth said giving him a kiss on the cheek

Athena look like she was about to pass out. Why did her daughter like that son of Poseidon? She still didn't aprove of them, but that Kelp Brian did.

**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."**

**"He's human."**

**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"**

"Typical." Artemis said. "All men think like that."

**"Who's your mom, then?"**

**"Cabin six."**

**"Meaning?"**

**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."**

**Okay, I thought. Why not?**

"'WHY NOT?'" Athena shouted.

Then Athena started to strangled Percy.

"I'm sor-ACCK ACKKKK!" Percy said

"Oh great not again." Annabeth said

Then a few minutes later Athena stop choking Percy.

"What is this? Strangle Percy Day?" Percy asked

"Yes." Everyone said

**"And my dad?"**

**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."**

**"Except my mother. She knew."**

"Of course I knew." Sally said

**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**

"I know that, but I could see the through the Mist so Poseidon has to revlied himself to me." Sally said

"how did you reacted?" Percy asked

"She took it in a clam way." Poseidon said. "She had a hunch of what who I am and Sally was right."

"Of course I was." Sally said. "I saw how you control water and all and I knew it was possible that you were Poseidon."

**"My dad would have. He loved her."**

"Of course I love her." Poseidon said

**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.**

**"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."**

**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**

****Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."****

"WE DON'T IGNORE YOU!" All the gods and goddess shouted

"It was Zeus's fault that we can't see our children." Demeter said

"We watch over you though." Aphrodite said

**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better.**

**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"**

**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter,**

**you're probably not a real powerful force. **

"WHAT!" Demter and Aphrodite shouted

"What about Piper?" Aphrodite asked. "She was attack by wind spirits."

"Mom it'a alright." Piper said

"How can my children not be powerful?" Aphrodite questioned Annabeth. "I'm the eldest god on Olympus!"

All the gods and goddess agreed.

"Really I didn't know." Percy said

"It'll say it in the Lost Hero." Piper said. "After we read all the books about you wer're going to read the other books about Jason, Leo and, I."

**The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."**

**"So monsters can't get in here?"**

**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."**

**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**

**"Practice fights. Practical jokes."**

Then Hermes, Travis, Connor, and Apollo laugh.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

**"Practical jokes?"**

****"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."****

**"So ... you're a year-rounder?"**

**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.**

**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."**

**"Why did you come so young?"**

"Sorry about that." Percy said

"It;s alright." annabeth sid. "I did told you anyway didn't I?"

"Yes you did."

**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."**

**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"**

**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."**

**"Unless?"**

**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"**

**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.**

**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"**

"Ambrosia." Annabeth said

Athena smiled

**"Ambrosia."**

Everyone laugh

**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."**

**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you **_**do **_**know some thing?"**

**"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**

**She clenched her fists.**

**"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so **_**normal**_**."**

**"You've been to Olympus?"**

"It was maginficent." Annabeth said

**"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."**

**"But... how did you get there?"**

**"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.**

**"You **_**are **_**a New Yorker, right?"**

**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.**

**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon.**

Everyone snickered.

"What?" Athena asked

"You know since you two have a rivialry, Annabeth and Percy are dating." Thalia said. "but you two want a rivialry between them, but instead of a rivialry they're dating."

Everyone agreed.

**But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."**

"You were right about that." Percy said. "we did work together."

**I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.**

**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to her self. "I'm **_**not **_**too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"**

"But you did get a quest three years later." Percy said

**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.**

**Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn.**

**The counselor, Luke, **

Everyone bowed their heads on that name.

**came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**

**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."**

**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.**

"He wasn't." Hermes said

**I said, "Thanks."**

**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"**

**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."**

**"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."**

Everyone nodded

**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about "your dad is Hermes?" I asked.**

**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."**

**"The wing-footed messenger guy."**

Really?" Hermes questioned Percy. "That's how you describe me?"

"That the only thing I remember." Percy said

**"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."**

"He's right about that." Hermes said

**I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.**

**"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.**

"Once." Hermes said

**"Once."**

**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had any thing to do with how he got his scar.**

"No that was different." Hermes said. "I told Chiron to give him a quest."

****Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."****

**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.**

**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**

**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."**

"Don't worry we all do too." Leo said

**"What do you mean?"**

**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."**

Everyone started snickering becaues Annabeth was right about that.

**"Somebody special?"**

**"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."**

"Someone's jealous!" Thalia sang

"Shut up!" Annabeth shouted

**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.**

**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"**

**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.**

"That would be me riding my silver chariot." Artemis said

**We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods— and when I say out of the woods, I mean **_**straight **_**out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.**

**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.**

**At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.**

**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.**

**Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.**

"Those are my siblings." Annabeth said

**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.**

**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"**

**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"**

**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."**

**I said, "Cherry Coke."**

**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.**

**Then I had an idea. "**_**Blue **_**Cherry Coke."**

Sally smiled.

**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.**

**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**

**I drank a toast to my mother.**

"Awwww." Aphrodite said

"Thank you Percy." Sally said

Percy smiled.

**She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...**

**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.**

**I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.**

**I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.**

"Really?" Annabeth asked

"Boys and their desserts." Artemis said

**"Come on," Luke told me.**

**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.**

**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."**

**"You're kidding."**

"No he's not." Everyone said

**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.**

"It doesn't smell like burning food." Zeus said

**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."**

**I was next.**

**I wished I knew what god's name to say.**

**Finally, I made a silent plea. **_**Whoever you are, tell me. Please.**_

**I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames.**

**When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.**

**It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.**

**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.**

**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."**

**A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.**

**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."**

"Do you really have to say his name wrong unporpose." Poseidon asked

"What do you mean, Uncle P?" Dionysus asked innocently. "There's so many campers I can't keep track."

"Yeah." Everyone said not buying the lame excused

**Chiron murmured something.**

**"Er, Percy Jackson," **

"At least Chiron correct you." Poseidon said

**Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."**

**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.**

**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.**

**My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.**

Sally smiled some more.

**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.**

**That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.**

**I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.**

"That's very good of you," Racheal said. "your taking Camp Half-Blood a chance."

"Yeah," Percy said.

"That's the end of the chapter," Athena said. "who wants to read?"

"I will!" Poseidon said excitedly

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: Chap 8 coming soon!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Killerninja123: hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>"Chapter 8: <strong>We Capture a Flag," <strong>**Poseidon read

"Yes we did." Annabeth said

"How?" Leo asked

"you'll see." Annabeth smirked

Percy pouted

**The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.**

"It sounds normal." Thalia said

**Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia:**

"Told you." Annabeth said

**Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English.**

**After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.**

**The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery,**

"I never seen you do archery before." Thalia said

"I'm pretty bad at it." Percy said

"Yeah, right."

**but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. **

"You were right." Thalia grumbled

"Told you so." Percy smiled

**He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.**

Everyone snickered.

"That must of hurt." Piper said

**Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.**

"Everyone can't even out run them." Annabeth pointed out

Everyone nodded in agreement

**And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.**

Clarisse and Ares smiled evily

**"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.**

"There still more." Clarisse pointed out in her death glares

**The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.**

**I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was,**

"How can they have a hard time?" Poseidon asked. "you just use water at Ares's child! They should know by now!"

**but they weren't having an easy time of it. I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, **

"You're weak." Ares said

**or as good at archery as the Apollo kids.**

"What?" Atremis shouted. "I'm way better at archery than Apollo and his children!"

**I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork **

"you must be bad at building then." Hehaestus said

**or—gods forbid— Dionysus's way with vine plants. **

"There is now way that you're my son." Dionysus said. "If you were I would of memorized your name."

Everyone agreed. Dionysus could only memorized his children's name only than the camper's names.

**Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, **

"No way you can't even eavesdrop right." Hermes

**a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better.**

"He was." Annabeth said

**He really didn't know what to make of me either.**

**Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came. Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile. **

"I still can't believe that you'll remember me." Poseidon said

**I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...**

**I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. **

Herems bowed his head.

**So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?**

"I would do that, but. . .I was trying to find the right time when Zeus isn't looking so I can cliam you." Poseidon explained. "But unforturnatly he saw me claim you."

**Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.**

**We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.**

**The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long.**

"Thta must of been tuff." Nico said. "my sword fits me just right."

"Yeah, becaues you are Hades's son and he wants his child to have a good sword." Percy said

**Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.**

**We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.**

**"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."**

**"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.**

Everyone snorted

"Yeah, right." Ares said

**The camper snorted.**

**Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" **_**Whap! **_**"Lunge!" **_**Whap! **_**"Now, back!" **_**Whap!**_

"So that's how he teaches." Racheal said

"Yeah, it make people get the idea and learn quicker." Annabeth said

**By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same.**

**Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.**

**"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."**

**Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.**

"YES!" Ares and Clarisse shouted. "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

"Wow, thank you," Percy said in sarcasim

**The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.**

**"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."**

**He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.**

**"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"**

**I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.**

****The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right.****

"At lest you have Riptide now." Annabeth said

"Yeah, Riptide is a cool sword." Percy said

**I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?**

**I tried the disarming maneuver.**

**My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.**

_**Clang.**_

**Luke's sword rattled against the stones.**

"What you beat, Luke?" Hermes asked amazed. "That's impossible he's the best swords men."

"Well I'm a lucky guy." Percy said

**The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.**

**The other campers were silent.**

**I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."**

Everyone shook their heads on Percy's commet

**For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.**

"Of course he was." Annabeth. "you just beat him."

**"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"**

**I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.**

**This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.**

**After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"**

Yeah, right!" Thalia and Annabeth shouted

**Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."**

**Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall.**

"The wall is noe that danerous." Annabeth said

Everyone nodded

**Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off my forearms.**

**We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.**

**His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.**

**"Fine," he said. "Just great."**

**"So your career's still on track?"**

**He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"**

**"Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.**

"At lest your being truthful." Annabeth said

"Hey!" Percy protested. "I'm always truthful."

"Yeah, right!" Everyone said

**"He just said you had big plans, you know ... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"**

**Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."**

**My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"**

_**"Blaa-ha-ha!**_ **He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want **_**me **_**along?"**

"But I did took you along the quest." Percy said. "and it did help you."

"Yes it did." Grover said

**"Of course I'd want you along!"**

**Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."**

**I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.**

**"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."**

"Yes, I would." Artemis said

"How would you know?" Apollo asked. "if you had a child at all. You might be mad if it was a boy, but for a girl you'll be please."

"Ha! Yeah, right!" Artemis shouted

**"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"**

**Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals.**

"Thats what they all say," Thalia whisper

"What was that?" Hera asked in discuss

"Nothing."

**That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."**

**"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."**

"That's us." the three borhters said

**"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."**

**"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."**

**"Uh-huh."**

**"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."**

"Used to." Hades said

**"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."**

"What do you mean by that?" Hades and Nico asked Grover

Grover whimpered

"There's nothing wrong with the Hades cabin!" Hades shouted

"My cabin is cool!" Nico said

"I got to admit, but it is awsome," Percy said

"See even Percy agrees with me." Nico said

**"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"**

"Bazillion?" Zeus and Poseidon asked in murderous tones.

"I thought you guys have that many children!" Percy protested

"He does have a point." Apollo said

**Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. **"About sixty years ago, ****

"You have to tell that story?" Zeus asked

"Well Percy has the right to know." Grover said

"He's got a point, brother." Poseidon said

****after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. **********Their children were just too powerful. ******

"Yes we were." Percy said

******They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."******

**Thunder boomed.**

**I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."**

"Yes it was!" the brothers said

**Grover nodded.**

**"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"**

"Well two of my brothers actually broke the oath." Hades said. "and I'm still the one who hadn't brothen it."

"Yet." Nico said

"What do you mean?" Hades asked

"Even if you didn't broke the oath I think you had another child somewhere in the U.S." Nico explained

"Y-Yeah, right!" Hades stuttered a little bit.

**Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon.**

"Yes he did." Hera glared at Thalia and Zeus. "Twice!

**There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia .. . **

"Don't forget me!" Jason said

"I didn't know she had a little borther than." Grover said

**well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, **

"And the ruler of all gods." Zeus added

**but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."**

"And son!" Jason added

"Yes he did." Thalia gritted her teeth.

"Hey, sis don't worry it was just a long time ago." Jason said

**"But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the little girl's fault."**

"Little girl?" Thalia questioned

"Sorry." Percy apologized

"Don't forget little two year old boy!" Jason added

********Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods.********

"True." said Jason, Percy, Thalia, and Nico

**They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. **

"Wow," Jason said, "You got chase by Pluto's minons while I was rise by wolves."

"I think you guys are even by that." Leo said

"He's right," Thalia said. "we are even."

**A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do.**

"You could of just tell me it was you." Percy said. "I would still take you to the quest."

"But I don't want you to think I was a failure." Grover said

**He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. **

"Luke and Annabeth." everyone said

**They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."**

**He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died,**

"Wait! Sis, you died?" Jason asked

"Don't worry, gorver will explain it." Thalia said

****Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."****

"So you became a tree." Jason said. "you could of told me everything!"

**I stared at the pine in the distance.**

**The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much.**

**I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?**

**"Grover," I said, "Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"**

**"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."**

"I didn't know Houdini was a demigod." Piper said

"He was." Annabeth said

**"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"**

**"No. Never. Orpheus came close... . **

"Very close." Nico said

**Percy, you're not seriously thinking—"**

**"No," I lied.**

"You lied to me again!" Grover shouted almost going to strangle Percy again, but Annabeth stop him.

"Grover this happen a long time ago, get over it!" Annabeth shouted

**"I was just wondering. So ... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"**

**Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."**

"you shouldn't have said that Grover." Annabeth said

"Yeah, Percy has a giant ego and know he thinks he's speacial." Thalia said

Percy glared at them.

**"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."**

"See giant ego." Thalia said

Percy glared at her some more.

**Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you **_**were**_—**you know—you'd never **_**ever **_**be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"**

"Actually you were wrong on both." Percy said

"I know." Grover said

**I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.**

**That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.**

**At last, it was time for capture the flag.**

**When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.**

**Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.**

**I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"**

"you really have to ask that question?" Annabeth asked

**"Yeah."**

**"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"**

**"Not always," he said. "But often."**

"Why?" Racheal asked

"Big rivalry." Annabeth answered

**"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?"**

**He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."**

**"Whose side are we on?"**

**He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And **_**you **_**are going to help."**

"You told him didn't you?" Percy asked Annabeth

"Of course I did," Annabeth smirked. "Luke thought it was a perfect plan."

**The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.**

**Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.**

**Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. **

"Used to be two." Dionysus said

**Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive.**

"Hey!" Demeter shouted

**Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. **

"What do you mean?" Piper aksed

"Nothing." Percy said in his scare voice. He knew that Piper is a tough Aphrodite kid.

**They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped.**

"I don't do that!" Piper shouted. "I would actually fight!"

**Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.**

"Of course they were." Annabeth said

"Hey!" Leo shouted

"Sorry, Leo." Annabeth said

**That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.**

"WHAT!" Ares shouted

"I'm sorry, Lord Ares!" Percy shouted

**Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.**

**"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"**

**He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.**

**"Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use these?"**

"Stop asking idiotic questions!" Annabeth shouted

"You should hear Nico's question." Percy said

"Hey!" Nico shouted

**Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."**

**My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.**

**Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"**

**We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.**

**I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."**

**She kept marching.**

**"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"**

****Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.****

"Well, duh!" Annabeth said

"Why would I seal something?" Percy questioned her

"You did stole money in my purse on time Percy." Sally said

Everyone chuckled and Percy blushed in embaressment.

**"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"**

**"Border patrol, whatever that means."**

**"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."**

"Yeah a plan that almost got me kill," Percy grumbled

**She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.**

**"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."**

**It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view**_**. **_**Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.**

**Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.**

**There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?**

"kind of." Zeus said

**Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.**

**Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.**

"No you didn't." Annabeth said

**Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.**

**I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling some thing was stalking me.**

**Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.**

**On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.**

"Now there's some fun." Clarisse said

**"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.**

"And Clarisse has arrived!" Travia said

**Her ugly pig eyes **

"Pig eye!" Clarisse screamed

"Please don't kill me!' Percy shouted

"We'll see about that!" Clarisse said

**glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords—not that that made me feel any better.**

**They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.**

**I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb, and the air burned.**

**Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric. I fell back.**

**Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.**

**They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.**

**"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."**

"At least my hair wasn't cut." Percy said

**I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.**

**"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."**

**"The flag is that way," I told her. I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid it didn't come out that way.**

**"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."**

"So it's revenge I see." Nico said

"Yeah, it was revenge Nico." Percy grumbled

**"You do that without my h****elp," I told them. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.**

**Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-kebabbed. As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.**

**Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time.**

**"No maiming," I managed to say.**

**"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."**

"Boys and their desserts!" Artemis shouted

"I would care if I didn't get any dessert." Ares said.

**He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash.**

**They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans.**

"double-espresso jelly beans?" Annabeth questioned

"It's really good." Percy said. "You should try them."

**Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.**

**Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. **

"Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three?" Clarisse shouted. "That's my silbings that you know."

"I didn't know there names!" Percy protested

**I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four **

"You really should stop saying Ugly Number One, Two, Three, e.c.t!" Ares shouted. "Those are my children!

**didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.**

**"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"**

"You know you should call Nico that," Percy commet. "He's the son of Hades."

"Hey!" Nico shouted

**She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.**

**Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.**

**"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."**

"Of course it was a trick." Annabeth said.

"That's a very good plan, my daughter." Athena smirked

Percy and Poseidon pouted

**They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.**

**The game was over. We'd won.**

**I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."**

**I looked, but she wasn't there.**

**"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.**

**I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. "You set me up," **

"Of course I did," Annabeth said. "That took you long enough to figure it out."

Percy glared at her.

**I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."**

**Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."**

"She's right." Everyone said

"I know!" Percy shouted

**"A plan to get me pulverized."**

**"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help."**

**Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"**

**"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"**

**"No. It **_**was **_**a sword cut. Look at it."**

**The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.**

**"I—I don't get it," I said.**

**Annabeth was thinking hard.**

"You knew then didn't you?" Percy asked

"It was just a hunch, but I wasn't so sure." Annabeth said

****I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."****

**"What—"**

**"Just do it."**

**I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.**

****"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is **_**not **_**good. I didn't want ... I assumed it would be Zeus... ."****

"Why would you think he be my son?" Zeus shouted

"Why would he be Zeus's kid?" Thalia shouted. "We're more much better! Besides Percy needs to have blue eyes."

"Also we can big out lighting!" Jason said. "And we can fly!"

**Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.**

**The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: **_**"Stand ready! My bow!"**_

**Annabeth drew her sword.**

**There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.**

"Hellhound." Everyone said

**It was looking straight at me.**

**Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"**

**She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her—an enormous shadow with teeth—and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet.**

**By some miracle, I was still alive. **

"It was a miricle." Annabeth said

**I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.**

"Yes it would." Nico said

Percy glared at him.

**Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.**

_**"Di immortales!"**_ **Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."**

"Not supposed to be here?" Nico finished

"Yes." Annabeth said

**"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."**

**Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.**

**Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"**

"Do you think I have the power to summon a hellhound?" Percy asked. "I don't even know how."

**"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.**

**We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.**

**"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."**

**"I'm okay."**

**"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."**

**I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.**

**Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.**

"you know we were all seeing the symbol right?" Annabeth asked

"I didn't know, I was still confused." Percy said

**"Look, I—I don't know why," I said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."**

"Percy." everyone grumbled

**But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.**

"Yes we were." Annabeth and Grover said

**"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ..."**

**By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.**

"So that's how you got claim." Paul said

**"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is **_**really **_**not good."**

**"It is determined," Chiron announced.**

**All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.**

"Of course we weren't," Clarisse said. "I didn't know you were Poseidon's kid."

**"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.**

"are you really that slow?" Athena asked

"Sorry, I didn't know what the trident meant." Percy replied

****"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."****

"That's the end og the chapter," Poseidon said. "How wants to read?"

"I will," Zeus said

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: Chap 9 coming soon!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Killerninja123: hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>"Chapter 9: <strong>I Am Offered a Quest," <strong>**Zeus read

"Alright quest time." Apollo said

"Oh good-y." Dionysus said in bordom

**The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three.**

**I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.**

"I know how you feel." Thalia, Jason, and Nico said

**And I was absolutely miserable.**

"Yes I was." Percy said

**Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease.**

Jason, Thalia, and Nico nodded in agreement

"Seriously whats up with that?" Zeus asked

"Dad, when I was at camp they were afriad to eat voltage." Jason said

"If they were rude to you and Thalia," Zeus huffed. "and if they do try to kill you then I'll say: EAT VOLTAGE! And blast them into tiny pieces."

****Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back.****

"I didn't." Grover said.

"But we did." Travis and Connor said

Percy glared at him and Katie punch Travis in the gut.

******The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one; that I was the son of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.******

**The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible. Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me **

"Whimps." Ares said

**after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, **

"Do you have to remind me?" Clarisse asked

"Sorry," Percy muttered

**so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one. **

"At least Luke helped you," Hermes said

**He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process.**

**"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."**

"He's really a good teacher." Percy said

****Annabeth still taught me Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time I said something, she scowled at me, as if I'd just poked her between the eyes.****

"I was just annpyed that's all." Annabeth said

******After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... Got to make a plan …"******

"You heard that?" Annabeth asked

"Yes I did." Percy replied smiling

"Sorry you know I didn't mean that," Annabeth said. "I was just surprised and a little bit pissed."

********Even Clarisse kept her distance, ********

"WHY?" Ares shouted

********though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. ********

"Yes it did." Clarisse said

********I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.********

"Why didn't you just say so?" Clarisse asked. "Ill be happy to beat you up."

**I knew somebody at camp resented me, because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the **_**New York Daily News, **_**opened to the Metro page. The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page.**

_**BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER**_

_**FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**_

_**BY EILEEN SMYTHE**_

_**Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. **_

"Actually I was missing not Percy." Sally said

_**The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken.**_

"That Camaro wasn't even a family car." Percy said. "That was Smelly Gabe's perisous."

_**The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.**_

"Thank you Minotaur." Everyone said

_**Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.**_

_**Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.**_

Poseidon fumed at the Gabe staute.

"Can we destory now?" he asked

"What did I saw, Poseidon, later after book 1!" Zeus snapped

But Poseidon still wouldn't take his eyes off of the Gabe staute.

_**Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.**_

**The phone number was circled in black marker.**

**I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin.**

**"Lights out," I told myself miserably.**

**That night, I had my worst dream yet.**

"Wow, another one." Leo said

**I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.**

****About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. ****

"Really?" Poseidon and Zeus asked

"Sorry." Percy said

****Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.****

"You guys must be anfry for some reason." Leo said. "What is it?"

Piper and Jason groaned. "Leo."

"What?"

"Just listen to the book." Piper said

******I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.******

********Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, **_**Give it back! Give it back! **_**Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.********

Everyone chuckled.

"We do not fight like kindergartners." Zeus said

"Yes you do." Hera said

**The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.**

**I yelled, **_**Stop it! Stop fighting!**_

**The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice**_**.**_

"Not good." Everyon said

_**Come down, little hero, **_**the voice crooned. **_**Come down!**_

**The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me.**

"Darkness ate Percy?" Tyson asked in a confused voice.

"No, big guy it was just a dream." Percy replied

"Ohhh."

**I woke up, sure I was falling.**

"But you weren't." Leo said

**I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. **

"Seriously dad can you stop being angry for one day?" Jason asked

Thalia nodded

"Sorry son I can't." Zeus said

**I hadn't dreamed that.**

**I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.**

**"Come in?"**

**Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you."**

Then everyone's head turn to Mr. D

"What?" he asked

"Nothing." Everyone said

**"Why?"**

**"He wants to kill... I mean, I'd better let him tell you."**

"So you want to kill my son, eh?" Poseidon asked

"I didn't mean it like that." Dionysus replied

**Nervously, **

"You should be." Dionysus said

**I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble.**

**For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive.**

"It was." Zeus said

"But you broke the oath first becaues you can't control yourself." Poseidon said

"Am I the only one to keep the oath?" Hades asked

****The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.****

"DUN DUN DUN!" The Stoll brothers, Hermes, and Apollo said

**Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.**

**"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."**

**I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"**

**He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."**

"It does." Grover said

**I realized he was right. **

"Of course he's right." Athena and Annabeth said

**In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley.**

**But this storm ... this one was huge.**

"Hell yeah I was that angry." Zeus said

"I still can't believe you blame me." Hades said

**At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins **

Then everyone bowed their heads for the memory of Castor.

**were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.**

"I can't believe they notice me!" Zeus squealed like a little girl.

Then everyone move back away from him. Only just a few twenty feet.

**Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. **

"I always wore that." Dionysus said

**Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel chair. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air.**

"I still can't beat him." Dionysus pouted

**"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."**

"you know I don't like that right?" Percy asked

"Really I didn't know." Dionysus mocked

**I waited.**

**"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."**

"'OLD BARNICLE-BEARD!" Poseidon shouted.

"I'm sor-AACCCKK-AAAACCCCKKK!" Dionysus shouted

"Any one want to help?" Annabeth asked

"Lets see how long it takes." Percy said smiling evily for revenge at Mr. D

**A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.**

**"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.**

"WHAT?" Zeus shouted

Then he shocked Mr. D while Poseidon is choking him.

"Thalia? Jason?" Piper asked

"Let's see how long it last." The two Graces said

"Wait, bit dad how are you going to read the book?" Thalia asked wondering of that problem.

Zeus snapped his figers and the book floated on a cloud.

"Oh." Thalia said

**Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.**

**"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."**

**"Spontaneous combustion **_**is **_**a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.**

"Chrion is right." Annbaeth said to the choking Mr. D

****"Nonsense," ********Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."****

Poseidon fumed some more and still choking Mr. D

**"Mr. D—" Chiron warned.**

**"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. **

Now that crosses the line. Poseidon summon is other children and they all started to choke Mr. D while Zeus is helping them.

**Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."**

**Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? **

"No it was-AACKn't!" Dionysus mange to shout during his choking

**No. A security pass.**

**He snapped his fingers.**

**The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.**

**Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover."**

**We did.**

**Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.**

**"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"**

**Just hearing the name made me shudder.**

"At least you did admit your scare of it." Annabeth said

"Chicken." Ares and Clarisse said

**Chiron probably wanted me to say, **_**Heck, it was nothing. I eat hellhounds for breakfast.**_

Everyone chuckled at that part, but Mr. D was trying to laugh, but he still can't.

**But I didn't feel like lying.**

"At least you tell the truth." Poseidon said still glaring at Mr. D

**"It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."**

"True." Hades and Nico said

**"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."**

**"Done ... with what?"**

**"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"**

**I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.**

"You really shouldn't do that." Percy said.

"Sorry, I was just excited." Grover said

**"Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."**

**Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."**

**Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.**

"Hell eyah we were." Shouted the brothers who were still strangling Mr. D

**"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, aren't they?"**

"That's right." Athena said

**Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.**

"So Chrion told you, but not me huh?" Annabeth huffed

"He swore me on River Styx not to tell you until you find out on your down." Grover mumbled

**Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"**

**My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theift.**

"Actually you eavesdrop on Chrion and I." Grover said

**And ... I've also been having these dreams."**

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

"How do you know that?" Percy asked

"You talk in your sleep." Grover replied.

"Seriously you really need to stop talking in your sleep." Thalia said

"Yeah." Nico agreed. "one time you talk about Annabeth in your sleep after I told you about my plan. You said that she kissed you at Mt. Helen. Is that true?"

"No!" Percy and Annabeth said both blushing

**"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.**

**"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"**

"I was still right." Grover said

****"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. ****

"It was." Apollo mumbled

****They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."****

**I laughed nervously. "A **_**what**_**?"**

"You what?" Zeus shouted at Percy who almost let go at Mr. D's neck.

**"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."**

**"Oh."**

"That's right." Zeus said

**"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."**

**"And it's missing?"**

**"Stolen," Chiron said.**

**"By who?"**

"Whom." Annabeth and Athena corrected

Zeus smirked

**"By **_**whom**_**," Chiron corrected.**

"Now you girl are thinking like Chiron." Leo said

****Once a teacher, always a teacher.****

"That's right." Paul said

******"By you."******

**My mouth fell open.**

Then everyone's head bowed becaues of Luke stole the bolt.

**"At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: **

"What do mean by nonsence?" the two brothers asked

**'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' **

"That is true!" Poseidon shouted

**Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' etcetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. **

"Even though I didn't take it." Poseidon said

**Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."**

**"But I didn't—"**

**"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne.**

****The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."****

******"But I've never even been to Olympus! ******

"That was true." Percy said to Zeus. "I haven't been to Olympus yet."

******Zeus is crazy!"******

"WWWHHHHAAAAATTTTT!" Zeus screamed from the top of his lungs

Now everyone was tense.

Poseidon and Zeus realease Dionysus.

"Perseus Jackson may I have a word with you?" Zeus asked

"Oh no." Thalia and Jason muttered

"Yes sir." Percy squeaked

Then Percy and Zeus went into a different room. Then everyone heard a girl scream.

5 minutes later. . . .

Percy and Zeus came back. Percy was brused up. He had a black eye, a cut on his cheek, a bloody nose, and many cuts around his body

"What happen back there?" Annabeth asked

"You don't want to know." Percy said

**Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid.**

**"Er, Percy ...?" Grover said. "We don't use the **_**c**_**-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."**

"That's right." Zeus said glaring at Percy

**"Perhaps **_**paranoid," **_

"I agree with that part." Zeus said

**Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. **

"It was Hera's idea," Poseidon said. "I just go along with it and you still blame me for it."

**I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam..." He looked at me as if he actually expected me to remember question thirty-eight.**

**How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted. Chiron was waiting for an answer.**

**"Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods ... **

"You still even can't remember our names." Apollo said

"It'll be too long." Percy said

"He's right you know." Hermes said

**they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"**

"And he's still a better ruler today," Poseidon said sarcastically

"At least you got that one right." Athena said

**"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. **

"But you still trust Hera." Posweidon pouted

**Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. **

"Now Chrion blames me now?" Poseidon grumbled

**He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. **

"alright war!" Ares shouted

"You know the war didn't happen after some years later." Athena said

**And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."**

**"But I'm just a kid!"**

**"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"**

"How would it twist out togas?" Apollo asked

**"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"**

**Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"**

**"Bad?" I guessed.**

"Correct." Athena said

**"Imagine the world in chaos. **

"I don't think you should start with that." Annabeth said

**Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."**

"The Trojan War did look like a water baloon fight." Ares said

**"Bad," I repeated.**

"Of course it's bad you dimwit!" Athena shouted

**"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."**

"I still didn't even get to do that." Zeus said.

"But he did say you were crazy," Jason mentioned that.

"Jason who's side are you on?" Percy snapped

Jason smirked

**It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.**

"Awww, there looking at me," Zeus cooed himself

"You know that's becaues your making a storm right?" Hades asked

Zeus pouted

_**I **_**had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. **

"Actually only you." Zeus said. "I just want everyone to see."

**I was furious.**

"Of course you were." Athena said

**"So I have to find the stupid bolt," **

"It's not stupid!" Zeus shouted

**I said. "And return it to Zeus."**

**"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"**

**"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"**

**"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago ... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."**

Percy shuddered

**"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"**

"Are you that stupid?" Zeus asked

**"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."**

"At least you weren't scared." Poseidon said

****I swallowed. "Good reason."****

"Never mind." Poseidon said

Everyone snickered

**"You agree then?"**

**I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.**

**Easy for him. **

"Yes it was." Grover said

**I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.**

"Yes you were." Zeus smirked

Percy glared at him.

**"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."**

"Good choice," Annabeth said

**"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, **

"Ha he thinks I'll go crazy, but I didn't." Percy said

**we will talk more."**

**Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trap door.**

**I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.**

**The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else ... a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.**

**I held my breath and climbed.**

**The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: **

"JUNK!" Everyone shouted

"I'm sorry!" Percy shouted back

**armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. **

"We should clean the attic." Annabeth said. "It'll be less dirty."

**One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled **_**things**_—**severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.**

**By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy.**

"I wonder how they mumified it." Percy said. "We don't have Egyptian gods."

"That's what I wonder too." Grover said

Then they all look at Apollo

"What I didn't know it was mumified until I came to camp." Apollo said

"This is very interesting." Paul said

**Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; **

"I think it was marbles. "Annabeth said

**she'd been dead a long, long time.**

"You got that right," Apollo said. "She's Nico's age."

"Oh yeah I forgot your suppsoed to be over seventy." Thalia said

"Will people stop mentioning that?" Nico snapped

**Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trap door, but it slammed shut.**

**Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: **_**I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.**_

**I wanted to say, **_**No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bath room. **_

Everyone laugh at that.

**But I forced myself to take a deep breath.**

**The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely **_**not **_**human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either.**

****I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"****

"Really?" Annabeth said. "You could of said 'How can I find the master bolt?"

"Sorry I was still new to this back then." Percy said

******The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies.******

Everyone groaned and glared at the Gabe Statue that they'll destoryed later.

**My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.**

"I would of beat him up too." Sally, Paul, and Poseidon said

**Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: **_**You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.**_

Then everyoned looked at Ares.

**His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: **_**You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.**_

Everyone looked at Zeus and Hades.

**The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: **_**You shall he betrayed by one who calls you a friend.**_

Everyoned bowed their heads becaues they knew who it was.

_****Finally, Eddie, our building superior, delivered the worst line of all: **_**And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.**_**_

Grover, Percy, and Annabeth bowed their heads and looked at Sally.

**The figures began to dissolve. At first I was too stunned to say anything, **

"I know how you feel." Clarisse and Annabeth said

**but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"**

**The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. **

"That's creepy," Leo said. "She must be wrost than Tia over here."

Leo pionted at Hera.

"Hey!" Hera shouted

**The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.**

**I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cob webs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.**

**My audience with the Oracle was over.**

**"Well?" Chiron asked me.**

**I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."**

**Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"**

"At least that's the good part." Zeus said

Hades nodded.

**"What did the Oracle say **_**exactly?" **_**Chiron pressed. "This is important."**

**My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She ... she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. **

"Ares." Zeus growled

**I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."**

"My master bolt." Zues said

"And my helm." Hades added

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

**Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"**

**I didn't want to tell him.**

**What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.**

"That is true." Annabeth said

****And the last line—I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, **_**Oh, by the way, you'll fail**_**

**How could I confess that?**

**"No," I said. "That's about it."**

**He studied my face. **

"He didn't buy it." Annabeth said. "Chrion knew there was somthing else."

**"Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."**

****I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.****

**"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"**

**"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"**

**"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed.**

**"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."**

**I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades."**

Nico growled

"Seriously why me?" Hades questioned. "I may have grudges, but I'm not that kind of person to do that!"

**Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."**

"No it was Kronos." Percy said

****A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"****

**"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."**

"That is ture." Hades said. "But I only told Alecto to go off and kill some half-blood."

"Well thanks for almost getting me killed." Percy said sracastcally

**"Yes, but—but Hades hates **_**all **_**heroes," Grover pro tested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon..."**

**"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued.**

**"Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, **

"That's ture too," Nico said

**and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. **

"And we already know who summoned the hellhound." Travis said

**Hades must have a spy here. **

"Or Kronos must have a spy here?" Percy suggested to the book.

**He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. **

Poseidon nodded

**Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."**

"Or Kronos would kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest?" Annabeth questioned the book.

**"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."**

"And there's more." Leo said

**"But a quest to ..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."**

Artemis nodded in agreement. She'd been to Maine before and it is very nice in the summer.

****"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," ****

"Or maybe Kronos." Percy said

"Seriously Percy would you stop spoiling it?" Leo asked

"Sorry, a little habit I have." Percy said

****Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon.****

"Zues always blames me." Poseidon said

**I don't pretend to under stand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, **

"I'm not that perfect," Hades said

**or why he chose this time to start a war, **

"I don't want war, only Ares does." Hades said

**but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."**

Everyone nodded. That is true about that part.

**A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, **

"Sorry," Hades said. "I thought you have my hlem."

"Why would I want a helm of darkness?" Percy asked

**with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light.**

"It was for hsotage." Hades said

**Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a thieft we hadn't committed.**

Hermes bowed his head.

**I was ready to take him on.**

"Uh-huh," Annabeth said

**Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld …**

**Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.**

"you got that right," Athena said

**Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.**

Everyone snickered

"I was nervus!" Grover exclaimed

**The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was,**

"Percy!" Grover shouted

"Sorry you didn't explained to me what is a searcher's license." Percy said in defence

**but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? This was suicide.**

Annabeth nodded her head. She know the feeling.

**"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."**

"I like that idea." Apollo said.

Then Artemis punched Apollo in the face.

**"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades—and I imagine Poseidon does—they couldn't retrieve the bolt them selves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. **

All the gods nodded.

**That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. **

"That's why I like heroes," Zeus said

**They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it.**

"Also they need guts." Ares mentioned

**No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. **

"That sucks." the demigods said

**Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"**

**"You're saying I'm being used."**

"Yes." Hermes and Apollo said

**"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. **

"He's right." Poseidon said

**It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."**

"I do need you." Poseidon said

Everoyne cooed and teased them.

**My dad needs me.**

"See even Percy agrees with me." Poseidon said while everyone was cooeding and teasing them again

**Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. **

"But I visit you once." Poseidon whined

**Now suddenly he needed me.**

"Yes." Poseidon cried

**I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"**

**"I had my suspicions. **

"He always have his suspicous." Annabeth said

**As I said ... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."**

**I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, **

"Ture." Apollo said

**but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too.**

"you got that right." Hermes said

**"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."**

"Yes." Hades said

**"Check," Chiron said.**

**"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."**

Zues nodded

**"Check."**

**"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."**

All the gods nodded.

**"That's about right."**

**I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.**

**"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.**

"What's with you and Maine?" Percy asked

"Nothing," Grover said,. "It's just very nice in the summer."

**"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you.**

**"Oh ..." He shifted his hooves. "No ... it's just that satyrs and underground places ... well..."**

**He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If ... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."**

"At least you didn't let me down." Percy said

****I felt so relieved I wanted to cry,****

"Awww." Aphrodite cooed

"wow, that's cheezy." Leo said

******though I didn't think that would be very heroic. ******

"It's not." Apollo said

******Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months. ******

"That is true." Grover said

******I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, ******

"I don't know either." Grover pointed out

******but I felt better knowing he'd be with me.******

**"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."**

**"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."**

"Are you really that stupid?" Hades asked

**"Where?"**

**Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."**

**"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane—"**

"PLANE!" Poseidon screamed. "ARE YOU NUTS OR WHAT!"

**"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"**

**I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. **

"Of course." Sally said. "I knew about Poseidon's and Zeus's rivalry. That's why I never let you go on a plane."

**She'd always said we didn't have the money. **

"That part is ture too." Sally said

**Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.**

"Do you really have to mentioned that?" Sally asked glaring at Percy and Zeus

**"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."**

**Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.**

**"Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland."**

**"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."**

**"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"**

**The air shimmered behind Chiron.**

Then Annabeth punched Percy in the shoulder.

**Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.**

****"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, ****

"That's right." Athena said

****but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."****

Athena nodded in approval.

**"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?"**

"First Clarisse and now you," Travis said

**Her cheeks colored. **

"You were blushing." Percy said stupidly.

Annabeth started to blush a little and then she punched Percy again to shut up.

**"Do you want my help or not?"**

**The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get.**

"At least you admit that." Annabeth said

**"A trio," I said. "That'll work."**

**"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."**

**Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.**

**"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."**

"Okay that's the end of that chapter." Zeus said "Who wants to read?"

"I will." Clarisse said

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: Chapter 10 coming soon!<strong>


	10. New guests

**Killerninja123: Sryy I haven't update for a while. I was very busy! Hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

><p>Clarisse was about to read chapter 11, but then there was a lot of gold flashes. There was a girl with brown hair and hazel eyes, a boy with a large and stoutly-built frame with a baby-cheeked face and black hair in a military-style cut, and a girl with piercing dark eyes and glossy black hair in a single braid. They all have SPQR branded on arm like Jason.<p>

"Why are we at Olympus?" asked the boy

"Brother!" Tyson shotued and ran to hug the boy.

"I-It's nice to see you too, Tyson." The boy choked. "Can you let go now?"

Tyson let go and went back to his seat.

"Hi, Frank, Hazel, Reyna!" Percy said

"Hey, Percy." the boy called Frank said

"Why are we here?" the girl Hazel asked

"We're reading Percy's books." Nico replied. "It's in his point of veiw."

"Can you guys give us some info about what happen?" Reyna asked

Annabeth nodded and she explained every and I mean every detial of what happen in the book.

"This is interesting." Reyna said

"This is going to be funny." Frank said

* * *

><p><strong>Killerninja123: Review Plz! Also I'll try to write chapter 11 as fast as I can, but I had a lot of high school homework, plus the midterms are coming, but I'll type as fast as I can!<strong>


	11. Sad Author's Note

**Killerninja123:**

**Hey, I know I haven't update for a long time because of high school homework and all, **

**but today I heard on the news and in Connecticut, **

**20 little elementry students and 6 teachers died because of a gunman at school. Plus it was 2 weeks before Christmas too.**

**If you heard the news, please send you prayers to those cute little kids. They were only first graders after all.**

**If you haven't heard the newws, please tell your friends and family about this tradegy and be thankful of what you have right now.**

**Those who lives in Connecticut and if you were the ones who loss your little siblings in this tragedy, I give you my prayers and hope you can get through this terror that happened.**

**- Killerninja123**


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